Boys tennis: Streamwood's Veltkamp brothers headed to state

It will be a family affair for Streamwood's brother duo of Chris and Alex Veltkamp at next weekend's Class 2A state boys tennis tournament.

Chris Veltkamp, a senior making his third straight trip to the state finals, claimed the singles title of the Huntley sectional held indoors Saturday at Centre Court in Hanover Park because of inclement weather.

Veltkamp blitzed Jacobs' Kerwin Chong in the championship match 6-1, 6-1.

"It never gets old going to the state finals," said Chris Veltkamp. "I was aggressive and kept it simple."

The state tournament begins Thursday at various venues throughout the Northwest suburbs.

Freshman Alex Veltkamp advanced to the state finals by whitewashing Julian Collins of Huntley 6-0, 6-0.

Chong defeated Alex Veltkamp in the semifinals 6-2-6-1. Veltkamp, because of an ankle injury, forfeited the third place match to Jacobs' Kyle Burton and finished fourth.

"It is amazing to make it to the state finals," said Alex Veltkamp. "My serves were good."

Chong qualified for the state finals blanking Sheh Shah of Dundee-Crown 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.

"I was just eager to play today,' said Chong. "My forehand was working well. "

Burton, a sophomore who will be making his second straight appearance at the state finals, knocked off Jacob Narayan of Elgin in the quarterfinals 6-0, 6-1.

"It is amazing to make it to state again,' said Burton. "I got off to a slow start but got better as the day went on."

The doubles competition will conclude Monday at Huntley beginning at 2 p.m.

A pair of South Elgin doubles team will participate in next weekend's state finals. Ben Holmes-Taylor Phenogosme knocked off the Hampshire duo of Alex Panthanna-Blake Snyder 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

"We just tried to keep our focus," said Holmes. "Our communication was excellent."

Phenogosme said he was able to overcome the fatigue of the pressure matches.

"Ben and I work well together," said Phenogosme. "I was getting tired but was able to overcome it."

Holmes and Phenogosme will be joined at the state finals by teammates Chad Morgan and Raj Patel.

Morgan-Patel defeated the Jacobs duo of Jacob Moser-Jakub Sobkowicz 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

"We play so well together and we both got our serves in," said Morgan. "Great feeling to make it to state finals."

Said Patel: "Our lobs were working. Chad and I work well together."

Matt Kastritis-Winston Yang defeated Huntley's Charlie Burian-Trey Coleman 6-4, 6-4 to qualify for the state finals.

"The hard work paid off," said Kastritis. "It was a tough match but we came through."

Said Yang: "We have a lot of experience. We tried to keep the stress level down."

Huntley's Jack Soderwall-Jacob Wat knocked off Hampshire's Aldren Briones-Kohlman Steuber 6-1, 7-6 in the quarterfinals.

"They took us to three sets in the conference season," said Soderwall. "We didn't want that."

Said Wat: "We were getting tired and we didn't want to go to a third set. We kept it simple. It is amazing to advance to the state finals."